"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver

deliverance . . .

by mulberryshoots

water, washing everything clean

I was thinking about how tensions are resolved and remembered this reading from the I-Ching, The Book of Changes (Wilhelm edition.) As some of you know, the I-Ching is a book of wisdom that serves as a foundation of Taoist beliefs. Here are excerpts from Hexagram 40, Deliverance:

“Here the movement goes out of the sphere of danger. The obstacle has been removed, the difficulties are being resolved. Deliverance is not yet achieved; it is just in its beginning, and the hexagram represents its various stages.

This refers to a time in which tensions and complications begin to be eased. At such times we ought to make our way back to ordinary conditions as soon as possible. These periods of sudden change have great importance. Just as rain relieves atmospheric tension, making all the buds burst open, so a time of deliverance from burdensome pressure has a liberating and stimulating effect on life. One thing is important, however: in such times we must not overdo our triumph. The point is not to push on farther than is necessary. Returning to the regular order of life as soon as deliverance is achieved brings good fortune.

A thunderstorm has the effect of clearing the air; the superior person produces a similar effect when dealing with mistakes and sins of men that induce a condition of tension. Through clarity she or he brings deliverance. However, when failings come to light, we do not dwell on them; we simply pass over mistakes, the unintentional transgressions, just as thunder dies away. We forgive misdeeds, the intentional transgressions, just as water washes everything clean.”

ralph waldo emerson:

“Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house, a world; and beyond its world a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you: build, therefore, your own world.”

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

morning glories

Every year we plant "heavenly blue" morning glory seedlings in front of the barn. By the Fall, their brilliant blooms create an evanescent blanket of blue, viewed from our kitchen window on foggy mornings in late October and November.
Each flower blooms in the morning and fades at night, a reminder to live each day as it opens and closes.